Quick-disconnect pool cleaning apparatus

ABSTRACT

A DEVICE FOR USE IN CLEANING SWIMMING POOLS THAT UTILIZES A PLURALITY OF FLEXIBLE CONDUITS WITH NOZZLES ON ONE END THEREOF TO KEEP SEDIMENT IN SUSPENSION IN THE WATER TO BE FILTERED OUT BY THE POOL&#39;&#39;S FILTERING SYSTEM. THE CONDUITS ARE FITTED WITH A QUICK-DISCONNECT TYPE FITTING AT THEIR OTHER END TO FIT INTO FLUSH MOUNTS IN THE SIDE OF THE POOL.

A. J. JACOBS 3,585,654

QUICK-DISCONNECT PO01 CLEANING APPARATUS June 22, 1971 2 Sheets-Shunt Filed Sept. 12. 1968 Alexander J. Jacobs INI IiN'I'OK.

United States Patent Office 3,585,654 QUICK-DISCONNECT POOL CLEANING APPARATUS Alexander J. Jacobs, 202 Orange Grove, San Fernando, Calif. 91340 Filed Sept. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 759,375 Int. Cl. B08b 9/00 US. Cl. 4172.15 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for use in cleaning swimming pools that utilizes a plurality of flexible conduits with nozzles on one end thereof to keep sediment in suspension in the water to be filtered out by the pools filtering system. The conduits are fitted with a quick-disconnect type fitting at their other end to fit into flush mounts in the side of the pool.

The cleaning and maintaining of a pool in a clean condition is one of the major maintenance aspects of a swimming pool. Heretofore, periodic brushing of all of the surfaces of the pool was necessary to loosen silt or other sediment that might have accumulated thereon, which then required a thorough vacuuming of the pool to complete the cleaning operation. In most pools, the flow of water through the filter system does not create enough agitation in the pool to keep the sediment and other debris from settling so that it cannot be filtered out which increases the rapidity with which the abovementioned cleaning cycle must be repeated. Also, the movement of the water being insufficient it is usually a time consuming operation to raise or lower the temperature of a pool by heating or cooling the water entering through the normal outlets from the filtering system. Further, when the aforementioned cleaning operations are taking place it is usually not advisable to permit swimmers in the pool, thereby requiring temporary closing of the pool or overtime work on the part of the pool personnel to accomplish the cleaning operation. The present invention generally relates to a device for cleaning a pool that keeps the water of the pool agitated so that the sediment is kept in suspension in the water to be thereby removed by the pools filtering system. The device is provided with a quick-disconnect fitting in the side of the pool that mounts flush, thereby leaving no dangerous projections on the pool surface when not in use. The device can be used as often as is necessary without affecting the use of the pool, or it can be left in use constantly. The device is simple and economical in construction thereby not requiring costly apparatus or many man-hours to use. The device consists of a series of flexible conduits with nozzles on the free end thereof and a quick-disconnect fitting on the other end. The quickdisconnect fittings attach to flush receptacles in the pool wall. As many of the conduits can be installed along the pool wall as is necessary to insure complete agitation of the water in the pool. The initial investment for the device is low and it can be incorporated into the pools filtering system to discharge filtered water therein not requiring any additional pumping machinery or other costly apparatus.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple but unique and efiicient pool cleaning apparatus.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a pool cleaning apparatus that accomplishes the cleaning by agitating the water thereby further preventing stagnation.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a pool cleaning apparatus that can be quickly connected and disconnected to the water supply provided therefor.

3,585,654 Patented June 22,, 1971 It is a still further object of this invention to provide a quick-disconnect pool cleaning apparatus whose flush receptacle mountings in the pool wall leave no projections therefrom.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a pool with the subject invention installed therein.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a single unit of the subject invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the conduit and its quick-disconnect coupling assembly.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the receptacle that is mounted in the pool wall.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the components of the conduit and its quick-disconnect coupling assembly.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 66 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the conduit in its locked position in solid lines, and its unlocked position in phantom.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the pressure disk which provides the locking force for the quick-disconnect fitting.

Referring now to the drawings, numeral 10 generally designates the subject cleaning device, while numeral 12 indicates the flexible conduit and numeral 14 designates the quick-disconnect fittings. The flexible conduit 12 of the cleaning device comprises an elongated flexible member 16 which is hollow and has a nozzle 18 at one end thereof with the other end 20 of the member being attachable to the quick-disconnect assembly. The nozzle 18 is formed by inserting a tubular element 22 into the free end of the hollow flexible member 16. The tubular element 22 has a taper 24 at one end thereof to facilitate the forcing of the element into the hollow member. The outside diameter of the tubular element 22 is larger than the inside diameter of the hollow member thus providing a tight fit to prevent loss of the tubular element from the hollow member due to water pressure. The inside diameter of the tubular element 22 is smaller than the inside diameter of the hollow member 16 thus providing for an increase in velocity of the water passing therethrough. With the increase in velocity of the water exiting the nozzle end 18 of the flexible conduit 12 a vigorous whipping about of the member is assured.

The quick-disconnect fitting 14 of the present invention has a male assembly 26 mounted on the end of the hollow member 16 remote from the nozzle and a female assembly 28 to be mounted in communication with a water supply. The male assembly 26 comprises an elongated cylindrical member 30 which has a fluted section 32 over the majority of its length to provide an easy to grasp surface when in the water so that a person desiring to mount the conduit assembly 12 will have no trouble therewith. The remainder of the cylindrical member 30 is smooth with the outside circumference 34 being the same or slightly larger than the outside circumference of the ridges on the fluted section 32. Two locking lugs 36 are mounted diametrically opposed on the circumference of the section 34 and coplanar with the end thereof. The inside diameter 38 of the cylindrical member 30 is slightly larger than the outside circumference of the hollow member 16 so that the member may be easily inserted through the cylindrical member 30. To secure the end 20 of the hollow member 16 to the cylindrical member 30 the end 20 is inserted through the cylindrical member to extend slightly therefrom, as shown in FIG. 3, and a rigid tubular element 40 is then inserted into the end 20 of the hollow member 16. The outside diameter of the tubular element 40 is somewhat larger than the inside diameter of the end 20 of the hollow member. This relationship then will securely clamp the end 20 of the hollow member between the outside circumference of the tubular element 40 and the inside surface of the cylindrical member 30.

The female assembly 28 of the quick-disconnect fitting comprises a rigid outside housing 42 and a relatively flexible pressure disk 44 mounted there inside. The housing 42 has a lower section 46 of enlarged diameter tapering to an upper section 48 of reduced diameter. The inside diameter 50 of the lower section 46 extends upwardly for about half the length of the rigid outside housing 42 where it terminates in an abutment 52 which forms a flange through which opens a continuation of the inside diameter but of reduced diameter 54. The reduced diameter section 54 extends upwardly a short distance where it terminates adjacent the upper section 48. This section 54 forms the locking chamber of the housing 42. The upper section 48 of the housings 42 has two diametrically opposed semicircular housings 56 attached to the outside circumference thereof. These housings 56 have a semi-circular inner circumference 58 which opens into the inside diameter 60 of the upper section 48. The openings 58 and 60 thus form a keyway-type opening which continues downwardly in the upward section 48 until it opens into the locking chamber 54. The inside diameter keyway thus formed has a slight projection 62 which extends downwardly into the locking chamber 54 for a short arcuate distance adjacent the semi-circular openings 58.

The flexible pressure disk 44 has an outside diameter slightly less than the diameter 50 of the lower section of the housing 42 so that it can be received therein. The disk has a main flat washer-like base 64 with an opening 66 through the center thereof. The base member 64 has a circular abutment 68 surrounding the opening 66 in the center thereof. A similar circular abutment 70, but of reduced height, extends around the circumference of the washer-like base 64 thus presenting two upwardly extending circular abutments. The disk 44 is not made of the same rigid material as the housing 42 but rather of a more flexible, but similar nonmetallic, material. The disk is adapted to be received within the diameter 50 with the abutments 68 and '70 extending upwardly towards the reduced upper diameter section therein. The outer abutment 70 is adapted to be engaged and fixed to, such as by fusion or gluing, the abutment 52. The disk then completes the formation of the reduced diameter locking chamber 54 within the center of the housing 42.

In operation the conduit section 12 with the male assembly 26 mounted on the end thereof is inserted into the female assembly 28 by aligning the locking lugs 36 the semi-circular openings 58 in the top section of the housing 42. The cylindrical member 30 is then pushed downward along the inside diameter 60 of the upper section of the housing until the end 20 of the conduit section that protrudes beyond the end of the cylindrical member 30 engages the inner circular abutment 68 on the pressure disk. The pressure disk being relatively flexible, it can be forced downwardly so that the locking lugs will clear the projection 62 in the locking chamber 54. When the locking lugs have thus cleared the projection the cylindrical member 30 is rotated approximately 90 thereby allowing the locking lugs to enter the locking chamber and when the member is released by the user the pressure disk will push the cylindrical member 30 upwardly theretending beyond the cylindrical member 30 engages the opening 66 through the pressure disk so that when the pressure disk is forced upward through its own resiliency and the pressure of the water therebehind further sealing is effected therewith.

FIG. 1 of the drawing shows a typical installation of the cleaning assembly and its quick-disconnect fastenings into the sides of a pool. A water supply pipe 72 extends from the pump and filtration room of the pool which feeds a supply pipe 74 that extends around the circumference of the pool embedded in the wall thereof. Spaced periodically along the supply pipe are T fittings 76 with short feed pipes 78 that progress perpendicularly toward the walls 80 of the pool. Each of the feed pipes 78 is of a diameter to be received snugly within the inside diameter 50 of the lower section of the rigid housing 42. The feed pipe 78 and the housing are suitably sealingly fixed to one another with the end of the upper section 48 of the housing mounted in coplanar relationship with the walls of the pool. Thus, the existing or common filtration and pump assemblies are used with the device and are used to feed in at openings spaced around the perimeter of the pool. When it is desired to clean the pool a sufiicient number of the conduit assemblies 12 are attached by grasping the by forcing the locking lugs into the raised portion of V the locking chamber 54 beyond the projections 62. This then prevents inadvertent rotation of the cylindrical member to align the locking lugs with the openings 58 and subsequent loss of the unit. The water pressure acting against the pressure disk 44 also aids in sealing the male and female members together against loss of pressure. As shown in FIG. 3, the end 20 of the flexible conduit exfluted sections 32 of the male assembly 26 and inserting the assembly into the flush mounted female assembly 28 and securing it therein. The pool could thus be cleaned overnight without anyone attending thereon or Without the expending of time or labor on the part of pool personnel. Similarly, the cleaning action and apparatus is unobtrusive enough that it could progress while the pool is being used by swimmers. Also, as mentioned hereinabove, the number of outlets spaced around the perimeter of the pool insure constant agitation of the water so that stagnation thereof will not occur.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A device for cleaning swimming pools, comprising: a flexible conduit assembly including a plurality of elongated flexible tubes each being provided with a nozzle means in one end thereof and a connector means attached to the other end thereof, means mounted in the wall of the pool to cooperate with each connector means to releasably attach the tube thereto with pressurized water supplied to said cooperating means to pass through said tubes, said connector means being a rigid cylindrical member received over the other end of said tube and [fixed therearound, said means mounted in the wall of the pool being a cylindrical casing receiving pressurized water in one .end and removably receiving the cylindrical member in the other end, the end of the casing removably receiving the cylindrical member being substantially flush with the wall of the pool to eliminate projections into the pool when the conduit assembly is removed, said cylindrical casing having means thereon cooperating with means on said cylindrical member to releasably hold the cylindrical member within said cylindrical casing to enable quick connect and disconnect of the tubes.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said cooperating means is a cylindrical opening in the other end of said casing extending through a portion thereof with a pair of diametrically opposed semi-circular grooves opening into the circumference of said cylindrical opening and being coextensive therewith, and a resilient disk with a central opening therethrough fixed to said casing in spaced relation to the inner extent of said cylindrical opening and grooves.

5 6 therein with the water passing through the opening in said 3,261,371 7/1966 Vernon 134-468 disk and then into said tube. 3,278,949 10/ 1966 Whitaker 4-172 3,483,878 12/1969 Lorenzen 134-167 References Cited 1,310,134 7/1919 Poston 285-89 U S, CL X R 3,146,783 9/1964 Aultman 134-168 134167; 285-361 

